BANGALORE:
BANGALORE: The Congress Wednesday wrested the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka from the scandal-hit ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding to the woes of Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
Congress nominee K. Jayaprakash Hegde, who had lost to Gowda in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, defeated the BJP's V. Sunil Kumar by over 45,000 votes in the bypoll held March 18.
He polled 398,723 votes to Kumar's 352,999. Janata Dal-Secular's S.L. Bhoje Gowda was far behind with around 70,000 votes.
The bypoll followed Gowda vacating the seat after becoming chief minister Aug 4 last year, succeeding his corruption-scarred party colleague B.S. Yeddyurappa.
The defeat for the BJP comes as it battles dissent by a section of the legislators led by Yeddyurappa, who wants to unseat Gowda.